This is technically correct. Be aware, however, that the 60 days is pretty much written in stone. Until 2003, the IRS issued no (as in none, zero, nada, zilch) exceptions for any reason. They have recently issued some new guidance, such that if your third son is injured by falling debris from a Chinese space launch on the second Thursday in March, then you have a reasonable excuse for missing the 60 days. ;-) (OK - one exception they are now allowing is if the brokerage screws up and has your money but doesn't open the IRA account - but I figure the probability of the two events are fairly close.)

IMHO, its much better to have the old broker send the money directly to the new broker to accomplish this rollover. There are no time restrictions - so if one of them screws up you are not penalized. You can do this as often as you like. If you get the money, you can only do this once every 12 months. Further, there is no reason to sell all of your securities, move cash, then repurchase them in the new IRA. Many can accomplish the rollover by transferring the securities directly to your new broker.

Just a note - some brokers, when doing a trustee-to-trustee rollover (which is what I recommend above) actually send a check to you. But the check will be made out to your new broker. That is OK and is still a trustee-to-trustee rollover. Just make sure the check gets to the new IRA custodian ASAP.

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